DGGE profiles of 165 rcDNA (Fig 4). The addition of phages did not promote any significant shift in bacterial ribotype diversity. The MDS analysis of the band patterns obtained from DGGE analysis of the experiment with AS-A phage revealed the occurrence of two groups (Fig 5), one that included water samples with AS-A phage (T8-Phage AS-A) and negative control with the preservative solution (TSB with 1% chloroform, T8-TSBCL) and the other group including control without incubation (T0) and watter incubated without phage AS-A (T8).
Analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) suggested a moderated separation of bacterial communities between water incubated with phage AS-A and water incubated without phage AS-A (T8 vs T8-Phage) (R=0.633) . A separated but strongly overlapping groups was observed for water incubated without phage in phage preservative solution (T8-TSBCL) and water incubated with phage AS-A in phage preservative solution (T8-Phage AS-A) (Table 4). Water samples without incubation (T0) displayed a higher similarity, comparatively with water incubation during 8 h (T8) (R=0.148) (Table 4).
3.9.2. Fish gastrointestinal tract
The DGGE analysis of bacterial communities present in fish gastrointestinal tract (Fig. 6) showed more variable community profiles in samples obtained from fishes exposed to AS-A phage.
The MDS analysis of the band patterns obtained from DGGE analysis of fish intestinal tracts revealed the occurrence of three groups (Fit. 7). The first one included fish infected with A. salmonicida but not treated with the phage (Fish+AS) and fish infected with the bacterium and treated with AS-A phage (Fish+AS+Phage). The other two groups, included Control Fish (neither bacteria nor phages were added) and fish with phages (Fish+Phage AS-A).
Analysis of similar (ANOSIM) indicate that communities in control fish were statistically different from those recorded in specimens that were exposed to AS-A phage